AI model comparison
Hy4 vs Step 5 Preview
Side by side comparison of Hy4 and Step 5 Preview on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.
The official release of Hy4 delivers comprehensive and substantial improvements over Hy4 Preview, with particularly strong gains in agentic capabilities and performance across a wide range of long-horizon, real-world productivity
- Input / 1M
- $0.42
- Output / 1M
- $1.25
- Context
- 1.05M
Step 5 Preview is StepFun's flagship model for agentic work, built on a sparse Mixture-of-Experts architecture (27B active / 600B total parameters).
- Input / 1M
- $1
- Output / 1M
- $2.70
- Context
- 1.05M
Comparing image generators? Compare image models
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Hy4
2.3x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Not available
Not enough benchmark data
Larger context window
Tie
1.05M vs 1.05M tokens
Newer release
Hy4
Released November 4, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Hy4 vs Step 5 Preview API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.42 | $1 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.25 | $2.70 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.02 | $0.10 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | 64K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Low, None | High, Medium, Low |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Medium |
| Release date | November 4, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
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Our take
Hy4 is 2.3x cheaper for a typical chat. The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Hy4 or Step 5 Preview cheaper?
Hy4 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Hy4 costs $0.42 per 1M input tokens and $1.25 per 1M output tokens, while Step 5 Preview costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Hy4 or Step 5 Preview?
Hy4 supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1.05M for Step 5 Preview.
Can I use Hy4 and Step 5 Preview at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Hy4 and Step 5 Preview answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Hy4 and Step 5 Preview at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.